Secondary failure after ten years of pallidal neurostimulation in a patient with advanced Parkinson's disease

Deep-brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and internal globus pallidus are both surgical options in advanced Parkinson's disease. The best target is still debated with data suggesting better motor outcome in subthalamic stimulation but higher rates of psychiatric problems. Failure of pallidal stimulation within the first 2 years has been described. Here, we report a patient with good response to pallidal neurostimulation who developed a secondary failure after 10 years of treatment which was successfully reversed by reimplanting the electrodes into the subthalamic nucleus. This case suggests that a controlled comparison of treatment efficacy of pallidal and subthalamic neurostimulation may require a very long follow-up period to yield reliable results.